4 Ways Girl Scouts can Boost Mental Wellness
Mental health challenges among young girls are increasingly prevalent, so it is critical to provide them with support, understanding and enablement. Girl Scout research indicates that nearly 70% of all girls ages five through 13 experience loneliness, which can lead to decreased self-confidence. This underscores a need for interventions to foster meaningful connections and self-assurance among young girls.
Our research also points to the power of friendship in boosting self confidence among girls to try new things. Knowing how to support your own mental wellness is a critical life skill – and its one that the Girl Scout experience provides through:
- A comfortable space for her to be unapologetically herself
- Supportive adults
- Sisterhood and belonging
- Positive risk-taking
- Giving back opportunities
Through a multi-year initiative, we’re working to give girls tools they need to support their own mental wellness while giving volunteers and caregivers the resources they need to support girls and practice self-care.
Among those resources, here are four actionable strategies to ensure your Girl Scout remains tethered to her mental health journey.
Mental Health Programs and Wellness Patches for Girl Scouts
Resilient. Ready. Strong. Patch Program
Designed for every Girl Scout in mind, the Resilient. Ready. Strong. patch program focuses on enhancing self-assurance and confronting obstacles directly through engaging and enjoyable tasks, all based on grade level. This program, launched in 2021, focuses on boosting confidence and tackling challenges heads-on with engaging activities and help girls increase their resilience and learn skills to lift their moods when they need it.
Mental Wellness Patch Program
This special program is designed for Girl Scout Juniors through Ambassadors (grades 4–12), and is packed with tips for handling tricky emotions. Girls need help identifying their feelings and advocating for themselves while learning to cope with difficult situations. Through this program, Girl Scouts learn how to tackle their feelings through the “Finding My Voice,” “Showing Up for Me and You,” and “Knowing My Emotions” patches.
Girl Scouts Connect with Nature
Studies show that being in nature even for half an hour a day helps us feel better mentally and physically. Outdoor activities have always been integral to the Girl Scout experience, with over 70% of our members participating in at least one outdoor activity per troop year.
Despite the easy access to screens in a digital world, girls still seek out authentic experiences and interpersonal connections, with nearly 60% saying they’d prefer to go outside and play.
With a century of experience in delivering a safe, fun and memorable summer camp experience to all, Girl Scouts of Greater offers day and overnight camps at Camp Misty Mountain, Camp Meriweather and Camp Timber Ridge with opportunities for lake swimming, horseback riding, archery, STEM and miles of nature trails.
Here are additional ways to get involved outside of camp:
- Girl Scout Tree Promise: plant, protect, and honor trees to combat the negative effects of climate change.
- Girl Scouts Love the Outdoors Challenge: Designed to engage girls of all grade levels to benefit from participating in outdoor activities that provide an opportunity to be active, engage with nature and boost their mental wellness through a love of the outdoors.
- Girl Scouts Love State Parks: Girl Scouts participate in self-guided tours, family hikes, watersports, stargazing, and so much more.
Girl Scouts Connect with Friends and Family
Girl Scout research revealed companionship helps girls try things they wouldn’t otherwise do alone. For more than half of the girls surveyed, having a friend by their side encourages them to try new things (52%) like talk to a new kid (52%); 50% would join a new group with a friend. And nearly 60% of girls would prefer to spend time with family rather than reaching for a digital device or screentime.
Set up a time for your girl to get together with members of her troop to play, be silly, and catch up with each other. Encourage her to try a new hobby like photography, woodworking, gardening, or anime illustration.
Bring her and the family to one of our many Girl Scout Day events with a few of our area partners and share the fun at theme parks, professional sporting events, museums, and classes with savings and discounts. Don’t forget to take pictures of your day, print them, and help your girl create a scrapbook to remember her adventures or tag @GirlScoutsATL for a chance to be featured!
Girl Scouts Connect with Communities
Character, conduct and community service are core qualities of being a Girl Scout and mental health experts agree helping others gives us purpose and creates a sense of well-being. In the Girl Scout Law, we promise to “make the world a better place”.
So, whether your girl is engaged in a short-term community service project like collecting blankets or newspapers for a local animal shelter, or a long-term or recurring project, like weekly volunteer shifts at a soup kitchen, her work fulfills an immediate need within the community. Ask your girl what she’s passionate about and help her find a way to turn that passion into purpose.
If she’s completed the prerequisites, she could also learn more about the Girl Scout High Awards at our Silver, Bronze, and Gold Award summer academies. Here, with girls her own age, she can spend the day developing a take-action project for the upcoming Girl Scout year.
Previous Girl Scout High Awards include building a little library, running a water safety course, creating a used musical instrument donation for students at a Title 1 school, raising money for and designing a mural along the Atlanta Beltline.
Girls need Girl Scouts More than Ever
Girls need to feel a sense of belonging and Girl Scouts is a place where every girl can be herself, where she is physically and emotionally safe. It is a place where every girl belongs and where she will grow in perseverance, confidence, and resilience. In fact, two-thirds of girls reportedly believe being in Girl Scouts supports their mental health.
As a girl-led program, the Girl Scout organization is keen to keep the needs of girls top of mind. Together, we can create a happier, healthier world for all girls together.
